In a Cold Sweat (7 page)

“One more thing.”

“What’s that, Reyes?”

“I didn’t find a single shell,” Reyes told the detectives as his team prepared to leave the crime scene.

Sanchez took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “You know what this reminds me of, Kirk?”

“What's that, Gene?” Kirk asked.

“You remember back in the good old days. We worked a crime scene just like this.” Sanchez went and stood over Cash’s body. “Nobody got off a shot; shooters didn’t
miss,
one witness.”

Kirk walked over and faced Sanchez. “Mike Black.”

“See, that’s what I like about you, Kirk; walking cop encyclopedia.”

“So, is this like, classified, or can we all learn from the master?” Reyes asked.

“Vincent Martin,” Kirk said.

“Never heard of him,” Richards replied.

“Before your time, Pat. Maybe twelve years ago,” Kirk told his partner

“I keep telling you, Kirk, you could teach the kid some history. It’ll make him a better cop,” Sanchez said.

“You tryin’ to say I ain’t a good cop?” Richards asked and started walking toward Sanchez before Kirk stepped in front of him.

Sanchez held up his hands in surrender. “Easy, big man. I’m just sayin’
,
history has a way of repeating itself.”

“Just tell the story,” Reyes said. “You know these old guys love to tell their stories.” He patted Richards on the back a few times and that seemed to settle him down.

“It started after Andre was killed. Andre Hammond, you have heard of him?” Sanchez began, but Richards interrupted him.

“Is this another Mike Black story?”

“You ain’t
know
?” Reyes added.

“See, I did teach the kid something,” Kirk said.

“So I won’t bore you with the details of the war that went on after Black got out the drug game. Anyway, before Chilly made peace with Black. The story goes that Black killed Jimmy Knowles and Charlie Rock. Vincent Martin went hard at Black until one night Black caught Martin and his whole crew slippin’. They were all at Martin’s house chillin' just, like these guys.”

“Yeah, but there must have been eight, ten guys in there,” Kirk added, pointing out the difference in the murder scene.

“Make a long story short, Black, Bobby and Mr. Freeze busted in, killed everybody, except one guy.”

“Why they leave a witness?” Reyes needed to know.

“To deliver a message to Chilly that he was next. After that, the war was over,” Sanchez said and took a little bow.

“So you think Black did this?” Richards asked.

“I’m just sayin’ there are some similarities,
that’s
all.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think so, Gene. Black’s been off the grid since his wife was murdered,” Kirk said.

“Good story though,” Reyes said and left the scene.

“Come on, Pat, let’s get some breakfast. Sanchez is buying,” Kirk said and headed for the door.

“I am?” Sanchez said and followed him out.

“It’ll give you a chance to tell some more stories,” Richards said and watched as the bodies were bagged.

“Wake up, Bobby!” Black said while shaking Bobby.

“Huh?” Bobby replied as he opened his eyes.

“Wake up. Let’s get the fuck outta here, man.”

Bobby began to stir in his chair. “Where you wanna go, Mike?”

“I don’t give a fuck. I just need to get outta here.”

“What about Michelle,” Bobby asked about Mike’s year old daughter.

“I already talked to Pam. She’s gonna watch her. Come on, man, get up and let’s go.”

Thirty minutes later, after Bobby finally got himself together, they were on their way to the Bronx. As they got closer to the city, Bobby again asked where Black wanted to go. “Let me use your phone,” was Black’s only reply.

“No. Why don’t you get your own fuckin’ phone?” Bobby asked.

“I don’t like them.”

“Oh, but you don’t mind usin’ them mutha fuckas.”

“I don’t like being that accessible.”

Bobby handed Black the phone. “Usin’ up all my minutes.”

“Damn, Bob, you want me to give you a fuckin’ quarter?” Black said as he dialed. “Shit, you so fuckin’ cheap.”

“As a Jew prayin’ at the Wailing Wall; but it ain’t the money, it’s the principle of the thing. You're always on mine when you could just get your own. That’s all I’m sayin’.”

“Whatever, Bobby.”
 
Black gave the ringing phone his full attention.

“What's up, Black?” Freeze asked when he answered the phone.

“Where you at?” was Black’s reply.

“On my way to see how the game is going tonight.”

“We’ll meet you there.” Black pressed end, dug in his pocket and pulled out a dollar. He handed the phone and a dollar to Bobby. “Here, cheap ass. I don’t have a quarter, but that should cover the call.”

Bobby snatched the phone out of Black’s hand but let the dollar drop between them. “I told you it ain’t about the money,” Bobby said as he drove.

“I know, I know, it’s the principle.”

Freeze pulled his Navigator in front of the house and put the car in park. He sat there for a minute thinking about the day that Black gave him control of the operation. It had been a few days after Shy’s funeral before Freeze made it out to Bobby’s house to see Black. He had meant to go the day after, but he got busy and the next day became the next day, but he finally made it.

The truth was
,
he wasn’t in any hurry to face Black. He still felt responsible for Shy’s death. “It’s my fault she’s dead,” Freeze remembered telling Nick.

“Who, Shy? What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” Nick had replied.

“Shy called me that night and asked me to come over there, but I never went.”

“Why not?” Nick thought for a second. Then he looked at his friend. “You didn’t go ’cause you don’t like the way she talks to you?”

Freeze looked over at Nick, but didn’t answer. Anytime they had business she would talk to him like a child.

“Before me and Black went to Mexico, I talked to Shy about that,” Nick said.

“What you do that for?”

“Because you’re my friend,” Nick answered.
 
“I told her how you felt about it. She had no idea. She called you over there to apologize to you.”

Freeze didn’t say a word after he heard that. What could he say? All Freeze knew now was that he couldn’t carry that burden around any longer. He had to tell Black the truth. If he had been there, Shy would still be alive.

When he finally found the house, Bobby’s wife, Pam, let him in and told him that Black and Bobby were in the basement and that he could go on down.

“There he is,” Black said as Freeze walked down the steps.

“Missed the turn didn’t you?” Bobby asked.

“Every fuckin’ time.” Freeze went toward the bar. Once he poured himself a drink and refreshed everyone else’s, he sat down on the couch next to Black. “How you doin’?” Freeze asked him.

“I guess I’m all right. I mean, I don’t feel like killin’ myself or no dumb shit like that.”

“Yeah, but he been cryin’ all damn day,” Bobby added.

“Fuck you, Bobby. I ain’t been cryin’ all day,” Black told him, although he did feel like crying at times that day.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came. I want to talk to you about something,” Black said to Freeze.

“What's that?” Freeze was curious to know.

“Me and
Bobby been
talking about this and I want you to run things,” Black said, but Freeze didn’t say anything. “I know you been handling shit for years, but it’s always been somebody else, me, then Wanda, then Cassandra, callin’ the shots. But that’s over with. It’s your time now.
 
Me
and Bobby are here to advise you if you need it, but you make the decisions.”

“What about Wanda?” Freeze asked.

“What I tell you?
 
You got this, without any interference from Wanda. I wish you had come yesterday while she was here so I could have told you in front of her. If you need her advice, ask her.”

Freeze looked at Black, but didn’t say anything. Feeling the way he was feeling, what could he say? Here he had just been handed everything he wanted and he felt empty.

“Bobby. I need to talk to Black for a minute.” Freeze looked at Bobby, awaiting his response.

Bobby picked up his drink and stood up. “Holla when you're done. I’ll be at the top of the stairs listening,” he said and winked.

Knowing how Bobby was, Freeze waited until he heard the door close before he said anything. “There’s something I gotta tell you about the night Shy got killed.”

“What's that?” Black asked and put down his drink.

“I was supposed to go over there that night,” Freeze confessed.

“I know, she told me. Why didn’t you go?”

Freeze didn’t answer. He felt like a fuckin’ fool having to say it.

“What ever it is, go ahead and say it,” Black told him.

Once again Freeze found
himself
speechless. He finished his drink and took a deep breath. “I didn’t go ‘
cause
I didn’t like the way she talked to me.”

Black shook his head. “I know that was hard for you to tell me,” Black said and got up to get the bottle. “You think it’s your fault Cassandra’s dead?”

“If I’d just gone over there, she’d still be alive,” Freeze said while Black refilled his glass.

Black poured himself another drink and sat down. “You gotta let that go. It ain’t your fault. They were listening on the phones; they knew you were coming and they went ahead with it anyway. What does that tell you? It means Bart was ready for you. So you drop that shit. You're gonna need a clear head for what you gotta do for me. You carryin’ that guilt around ain’t gonna do nothing for nobody; understand?”

Freeze told Black that he understood what he was saying, and for the most part, he did. But there was a part of him that still believed that if he had been there that
night,
things would have been different, even if Bart was ready for him.

Before Black and Bobby got to the house, Freeze had spoken to Nick Simmons. When Freeze told him that Black was on his way there, Nick said that he had some information for Black and that Freeze shouldn’t let Black leave before he got there.

Through his contacts, Nick was able to find out that the men that killed Shy were handled by a guy named Rosstein, but he died suddenly before he told who hired him. Now Nick had gotten information about Rosstein that might be useful.

“What's up, Freeze?” Nick said when he came into the office where Freeze and Mylo were.

“What’s up,” Freeze said and seemed to be looking around or past Nick. “You alone?” Freeze asked.